Darby R Ryan, Laganiere Simon, Pascual-Leone Alvaro, Prasad Sashank, Fox Michael D
Berenson-Allen Center for Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation and Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Brain. 2017 Feb;140(2):497-507. doi: 10.1093/brain/aww288. Epub 2017 Jan 12.
SEE MCKAY AND FURL DOI101093/AWW323 FOR A SCIENTIFIC COMMENTARY ON THIS ARTICLE: Focal brain injury can sometimes lead to bizarre symptoms, such as the delusion that a family member has been replaced by an imposter (Capgras syndrome). How a single brain lesion could cause such a complex disorder is unclear, leading many to speculate that concurrent delirium, psychiatric disease, dementia, or a second lesion is required. Here we instead propose that Capgras and other delusional misidentification syndromes arise from single lesions at unique locations within the human brain connectome. This hypothesis is motivated by evidence that symptoms emerge from sites functionally connected to a lesion location, not just the lesion location itself. First, 17 cases of lesion-induced delusional misidentifications were identified and lesion locations were mapped to a common brain atlas. Second, lesion network mapping was used to identify brain regions functionally connected to the lesion locations. Third, regions involved in familiarity perception and belief evaluation, two processes thought to be abnormal in delusional misidentifications, were identified using meta-analyses of previous functional magnetic resonance imaging studies. We found that all 17 lesion locations were functionally connected to the left retrosplenial cortex, the region most activated in functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of familiarity. Similarly, 16 of 17 lesion locations were functionally connected to the right frontal cortex, the region most activated in functional magnetic resonance imaging studies of expectation violation, a component of belief evaluation. This connectivity pattern was highly specific for delusional misidentifications compared to four other lesion-induced neurological syndromes (P < 0.0001). Finally, 15 lesions causing other types of delusions were connected to expectation violation (P < 0.0001) but not familiarity regions, demonstrating specificity for delusion content. Our results provide potential neuroanatomical correlates for impaired familiarity perception and belief evaluation in patients with delusional misidentifications. More generally, we demonstrate a mechanism by which a single lesion can cause a complex neuropsychiatric syndrome based on that lesion's unique pattern of functional connectivity, without the need for pre-existing or hidden pathology.
有关本文的科学评论,请参阅麦凯和弗尔的文献DOI101093/AWW323:局灶性脑损伤有时会导致怪异症状,比如妄想家庭成员被冒名顶替者取代(卡普格拉综合征)。单个脑损伤如何导致这种复杂病症尚不清楚,这使得许多人推测需要并发谵妄、精神疾病、痴呆症或存在第二个损伤。在此,我们提出卡普格拉综合征和其他妄想性错认综合征源自人类脑连接组内独特位置的单个损伤。这一假设的依据是,症状源自与损伤位置功能相连的部位,而不仅仅是损伤位置本身。首先,识别出17例由损伤引起的妄想性错认病例,并将损伤位置映射到一个通用脑图谱上。其次,使用损伤网络映射来识别与损伤位置功能相连的脑区。第三,通过对先前功能磁共振成像研究的荟萃分析,识别出参与熟悉感感知和信念评估的区域,这两个过程在妄想性错认中被认为是异常的。我们发现,所有17个损伤位置都与左侧压后皮质功能相连,该区域在熟悉感的功能磁共振成像研究中激活程度最高。同样,17个损伤位置中有16个与右侧额叶皮质功能相连,该区域在预期违背(信念评估的一个组成部分)的功能磁共振成像研究中激活程度最高。与其他四种由损伤引起的神经综合征相比,这种连接模式对妄想性错认具有高度特异性(P < 0.0001)。最后,导致其他类型妄想的15个损伤与预期违背相关(P < 0.0001),但与熟悉感区域无关,这表明对妄想内容具有特异性。我们的结果为妄想性错认患者的熟悉感感知和信念评估受损提供了潜在的神经解剖学关联。更普遍地说,我们展示了一种机制,即单个损伤可基于其独特的功能连接模式导致复杂的神经精神综合征,而无需预先存在或隐藏的病理状况。